The more we bomb Isis, the stronger they become

Isis can’t be seen as a single entity; as one cohesive army. The reality is that probably only a small percentage of the group are the types that pose a real threat to the West. Only a tiny minority of its members in the Middle East, at this stage, are hardline ideologues with any serious intent to carry out attacks in America or Europe.

Most members of Isis have joined more out of pragmatism than fervour. Raqqa was always known in Syria as a more secular city (while it was still in the hands of the Syrian regime, other Syrian rebel groups would scoff to me that Raqqa’s population were blasphemous Godless bastards). But Isis provides a degree of stability in a country of chaos. While anarchy rules in other rebel-held areas, and the regime side is controlled by a series of dangerous and corrupt militias, in Isis terrain there is, at the very least, a degree of law and order.